Ach du lieber ! Meine german comic reads

For my readers it´s been four days since my last post, for me I just finished it Today. Since it says in the blog header that this blog is about the translated version of american comics I thought it´s about time that I did a post on the stuff I´m reading in german.


And with this I don´t mean german comics by german creators since I cover most of that in my posts from Erlangen or the Stuttgarter Comicbörse. Here I want to write about american comics in the translated german version that I´m reading besides my regular pull list.

Which is mostly stuff I read on the bus or on the train and that I buy at the newsstands instead of the comicshop and that´s on my desk right now. First up is SIMPSONS SPECIAL PRÄSENTIERT : SIMPSONS SUPER SPEKTAKEL 5, 68 pages for 3,30 EUROS.


When BONGO COMICS first started publishing Simpson comics I was pretty excited since almost everybody I know is a fan of the series. I got all the number ones but after a while I kind of lost interest. I still bought the first four issues of every series and still have them somewhere. I bought the odd issue here or there, like when I was on vacation in Spain and I already had all the other american comics but I don´t really follow it anymore.

The only issues I still buy are the BART SIMPSON´S TREEHOUSE OF TERROR issues and anything that has new stuff with Radioactive Man, one of Matt Groening´s most brilliant creations. This issue offers 3 Radioactive Man stories, 1 Bartman tale, another story with The Legion of Superpets and one story of Senor Ding Dong. As with most Radioactive Man stories they are just full of little Easter Eggs for comic readers and spoof every comic cliche there is. What I really appreciate about the german version ( of this and the following FUTURAMA issues ) are the cheat sheets that explain the little nuggets hidden in the story. Since most german readers are not as familiar as somebody like me with american pop culture a lot of the inside jokes have to be explained. But I must confess there are some things even I don´t know or forget so it´s always interesting to read that part. The Simpsons are still pretty popular here in Germany and the comics sell ten times what they sell in America.


Now I don´t know what the sales numbers for FUTURAMA are but I know that although it only comes out every three months they still have a cover price of 2 EUROS 90 which is pretty low. There are very few comics in Germany that can afford the luxury to be published in the single issues format so they can´t sell too bad. Most comics that are translated from other languages to german have at least two regular issues per number and I think german comic publishers are the inventors of the back up story. This goes probably back to the old MV Comix and even before.

Lately I have gotten quite a few issues of FUTURAMA since I also like the tv show. Here in Germany it´s currently shown on the music channel VIVA which shows all kinds of tv and anime shows like CASE CLOSED, NARUTO or ONE PIECE. Now that Mtv has gone off the air here ( you only get it over satellite or digitally ) VIVA has inherited all its shows like I USED TO HAVE A BRAIN or DATE MY MILF and they play even less music videos. I just whish they would show BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD again, those two are cool. And like I said, they show cartoon shows like FAMILY GUY or FUTURAMA. It seems despite the fact that FUTURAMA never did get the big following it got im America it still is shown on at least two tv stations.

Normally I only buy the issues that are related to superhero comics I know but issue 42 had such a cool Jack Kirby inspired cover that I just had to get it. As usual there are the articles in the back explaining the finer points of the issue, but as somebody who hasn´t seen all the episodes ( and doesn´t remember the ones I saw too well ) it is really appreciated. Especially where the history of the characters is involved. And you can´t beat evil robots, especially evil, murdering robot Santas. Hmm, now that I think of it, does Bender qualify as evil robot ? That would explain Futurama´s success.


Okay, I admit that I only bought issue 45 for two reasons. Number 1 : Amy appears in a superhero costume, even if it´s only a dream. But almost the whole comic takes place in people´s dreams. So it´s semi - real. Number 2 : one of the characters in the story looks like Neil Gaiman´s Dream from the Endless. And I´m always a sucker for SANDMAN tie - ins even the most vague ones.

Speaking of Neil Gaiman and Matt Groening cartoon shows it seems Neil Gaiman appeared in an episode of THE SIMPSONS . I guess some day they will show it on german tv but with my luck I will probably miss it.


As for issue 46 of FUTURAMA I have no idea why I bought that since I´m not much into racing stuff. And the FAST AND FURIOUS jokes ( fast means almost in german ) were old when the second part of the franchise came out. Another hint that I may not be the intended audience is that I had to read the database articles in the back to find out which videogames were mentioned in the comic. I guess except for RIDGE RACER ( imagine intro yelling Ridge Race here ) or SUPER HANG ON I never played many racing games. While I could appreciate the graphics of games like Grand Theft I always crashed the car too soon or ended up going in the wrong direction with these kind of games. Which is why I was always more into fighting games like STREET FIGHTER or TEKKEN.

Which reminds me that one of these days I have to get the TEKKEN movie ( probably from Spain where I can get an uncut version ) for the home cinema since it´s not half bad. There are some good fight scenes in it, the actors really bring the game characters alive ( especially the Williams twin sisters, massita ) but the main reason for buying the movie is Kelly Overton who plays Christine Monteiro.


I just like her fashion sense and her butt cleavage is one of the highlights of the movie. In fact it carries a big part of the film.

One brilliant piece of casting in Tekken was Christie Monteiro ( Kelly Overton ). She is the only reason for a heterosexual male to see this film since extraordinarily superior martial artists films like Fearless and Ip Man exist. Every outfit she wears – except for the first one – shows her ass crack and it’s obvious she isn’t wearing any underwear.

Not since Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique has the separation in the Gluteus Maximus muscle been on display in an adaptation so salaciously and audaciously. The costume designers on Tekken had no shame . . . bless them. There is one scene where Jin Kazama ( Jon Foo ) is staring down Monteiro´s crack at her ass. Monteiro is aware of it, comments, and then the viewer is shown just what captured his attention so fastidiously.

There is even an article deicated to Kelly Overton´s gluteus maximus on TEKKEN .

click here for the fullsize version of Kelly Overton´s butt cleavage

And her dancing moves are not half bad either. I´d love to see what she can do with a wet t - shirt and a pole.



Speaking about movies I have to admit I have seen at least four of THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS movies and the last one was pretty good. Even if the trailer gives away most of the plot. I think there´s an even longer version that goes five minutes. Here´s the trailer that has a spanglish intro ( and goodbye ) by Big V himslef.



One of the things related to THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS I never understood was thw whole TOKYO DRIFT thing. They sent a delinquent to Tokyo like what´s up with that ? Couldn´t they find a city with a higher crime rate ? Or were they hoping he wouldn´t survive it ?

Okay, back to issue 46 of FUTURAMA, even if I´m not part of the intended target audience I have to admit I did enjoy the comic. The only downside is that now that I have finally started reading the series regularly I have to wait until April for the next issue to come out.


Dang, the same thing happened with the DEAD ZONE tv show. Every time I had started to watch the show regularly and had finally memorized when it´s on they took it off the air.

Okay, next on the list is X- MEN and the german versions are the only x - related comic I read on a regular basis. I had given up on the whole X - Men related stuff because it had become too confusing. The first x - book I read in a long time was Chris Claremont´s X - MEN FOREVER and though I really was x - cited to read the X - Men I knew the series was canceled and I switched to the trades. If I had sticked to the single issues I would have probably only bought the issues by Tom Grummet and they are very few. I still have to get the last two trades of the second season but right now they are too expensive at amazon or other comicshops.

Lately I had thought about getting back to the X - Men universe proper since I have read X - MEN SCHISM which I really enjoyed despite my initial negative reaction to the premise. After Carlos Pacheco´s superb Point One issue and his also great part in the SCHISM storyline I was really stoked about the new UNCANNY X - MEN series that he was to draw. But after he only did the full art on the first issue and did less and less pages in the subsequent two issues I think the book will not make it´s way to my pull list. Issue 10 is in the new PREVIEWS and it seems after issues done by Brandon Peterson and Greg Land Carlos Pacheco will be back but I guess it depends on if he does the full issue if I buy it or not.

So the first german X - Men issue on my desk is issue 131, 124 pages for 5.95 EUROS that includes a big poster and contains the complete QUARANTINE storyline.


Five issues for 5.95 is not a bad deal even if I already bought the final issue in the original version because it also had the first issue of AVENGERS ACADEMY ( another series like X - MEN FOREVER, THUNDERBOLTS and SECRET WARRIORS where I still have to catch up at least two trades ).

I have to say I really prefer the issues that have one story instead of the normal issues that have different stories from four or five different series. They are like a trade that´s stapled but in the past there had only been one other that collected a stroyline and that was a four part story with art by Terry Dodson. That was really cool.

When I started reading the german X - Men again ( man, I guess I´m really the only one in Germany who would prefer a german title for the comic like GRUPPE X or X - MENSCHEN ) it was right after the Messiah Complex storyline which was probably the best moment. Not that Messiah Complex was a bad story which I don´t know since I never read it. But the best moments to start reading series are normally after a big event has taken place. New Status Quo, new alliances, new teams, new members and so on. Meaning that you can come and just enjoy reading since it´s a clean slate for old readers as well.

I could get reacquainted with the X - Men even if the issues were always a bit of a jumble tumble patchwork offering a lot of cheap filler stuff.

But lately PANINI is publishing more complete storylines which was a blessing for me since I could skip issue 132 which contained the SPIDER - MAN AND THE X - MEN story and was entirely drawn by Chris Bachalo.


Since I have already gone over the reasons why I don´t like his art anymore in detail a few times so I won´t bore you with it again. Let it suffice to say that I was a huge fan of him during his GENERATION X run and that it changed with STEAMPUNK.

I did however buy the next issue of the german X - Men which contained the complete BREAKING POINT saga. Which brings us to one of the shortcoming of the german versions, namely the translation. I have already mentioned ad nausea how bad the translation is in some cases but I never tire to point out if it could have been done better.

And sorry if this sounds bitter but is BRUCHSTELLE really the best you can come up with ? Because believe it or not, a title also has to sell the comic. And in my opinon BREAKING POINT is not the same as BREAKPOINT or BREAKAGE. Okay, it has similar meaning but I think the term BREAKING POINT is a bit stronger and is to be taken more literally here. It´s not about a thing breaking but rather the main characters being brought to the point where they snap, where they have to go beyond their limits and fail, the point where they break. So I think something like BELASTUNGSGRENZE or ZERREISSGRENZE would have been waaaay better. As for the plot, it´s a sequel to the BREAKWORLD saga from Joss Whedon´s ASTONISHING X - MEN run and it´s a bit difficult to follow all the turns and curveballs that the writer throws at the reader. But the Dodson´s art helps a great deal.


And speaking about bad translations of titles I think the best ( or worst in this case ) translation in a long time is for YOUNG AVENGERS - THE CHILDREN´S CRUSADE which originally was supposed to be called YOUNG AVENGERS - DIE KREUZFAHRT ( Young Avengers - The Cruise ).

But it seems even the guys at PANINI realized that there´s a little difference between a cruise ( a nice leisure trip on a yacht or boat ) and a crusade ( a holy war or mission most often associated with killing as many infidels as possible ). Although I have to admit the new title YOUNG AVENGERS - DER KINDERKREUZZUG still leaves a lot to be desired. For me Kinderkreuzzug sounds a lot like Kindergarten, like it´s not a serious crusade. And if you have read the series ( which I strongly recommend and not only because it´s probably the lead - in for the upcoming AVENGERS VS X - MEN megaevent ) you know that it´s anything but. The stakes are very real and very high. So, like in most cases I have no idea why they went to all the trouble instead of choosing the easier and far more obvious translation of KREUZZUG DER KINDER which also explains it better.

But maybe that´s just me and nobody else cares about that.


And with that we have officially reached the part where I start bitching and whining and cursing the evil comicgods callled Quesada and the likes and maybe even spit and scratch. In other words : Spider - Man after BRAND NEW DAY.

Yes, I´m still reading the occasional Spider - Man even after BRAND NEW DAY which in my opinion completely destroyed the franchise. But there were still some artists associated with old webhead that I liked most importantly John Romita Jr who illustrated the brilliant NEW WAYS TO DIE story. After that I mostly picked the issues with artists I liked like Marcos Martin and Javier Pulido who have kind of a similar style. for the most parts the stories are not that captivating and for a Spideyfan who has been around the block as many times as me it´s just a rehashing of old storylines that have been done before by better artists and writers. They just add the internet and i phones.

Especially the whole THE GAUNTLET deal was kind of a big joke. Spider - Man being attacked by one villain after another, first the Rhino then Mysterio then somebody else and so on ? Back when I was reading Spider - Man in the 80s we called that Wednesday and Spidey did that while having a serious cold or a broken shoulder. The gauntlet. A mere child´s game. And thank god we have returned to Peter´s women hunting days that was so much fun ( which is sarcasm ). Even the gangwar storyline with cyborg Silvermane has been done ad nauseum.


But I don´t want to turn this into one of my usual bitching rants although there will be one minor thing I will mention later on. It´s not like anybody is forcing me to buy Spider - Man and i know that BRAND NEW DAY crashed and burned Spider - Man so it´s my own fault.

There are also a few good spiderrelated comics out there. There is NEW AVENGERS where Spider - Man is a member and where he has great moments, there is FF and FANTASTIC FOUR and at PANINI there is IM NETZ VON SPIDER - MAN ( In Spider - Man´s web ). I don´t know who came up with that title but knowing PANINI he probably got a raise for that. IM NETZ VON SPIDER - MAN is the title where PANINI dumps all the spiderstuff that can´t support an ongoing series but which probably they had to buy to get the regular spider - Man series. As the source material varies the quality of the issues go from brilliant to utter crap and which sometimes has such great issues like the one that collected the complete SPIDER - MAN / HUMAN TORCH series.

The latest two I bought are issues 30 and 34. Both are 100 pages or more for 5.95 EUROS and issue 30 contains a three part story by Lee Weeks featuring CAPTAIN UNIVERSE.


For a big part of his career Lee Weeks has been considered as the go - to - guy whenever John Romita Jr was not available ( like Terry Dodson started out as the go - to - guy whenever Adam Hughes was not available or not fast enough ) but i always liked his art and I think he has managed to carve his own niche.

He did a great run on DAREDEVIL right after John Romita Jr left the title but i´m not sure if I still have the issues or where they are if I do still have them. I remember buying the issues as they came out but I might have sold them or they may have been lost in one of the many moves from room to different room. Which is a real bummer because, boy, I really would love to read that Daredevil story again. Back to NET, for those not familiar with the Captain Universe character, Captain Universe is not a specific person, it´s rather the power of Captain Universe which always seeks a different host granting them almost infinite power. Talk about Spider - Man´s mantra With great power comes great responsibility amped to the Nth level. In this story somebody gets the power who has a bone to pick with the Juggernaut and Peter is the one who throws himself in the middle against better judgement even if he´s totally outclassed. But that never stopped him before when the Juggernaut is concerned. A really good story by Roger Stern and although the following story from issue 47 of MS MARVEL ( the date with Spider - Man ) is not as good all in all it doesn´t hurt.

What really hurt me was issue 34 of NET. And for that I have to post the cover.


Now judging by the cover you might think that the main story of the issue is the New Venom. It is not. The Venom story only makes up one fourth of the issue and it´s in the back, the last story.

You might think that the guys Van Lente, Wells, Kesel and Gale contributed to the issue. They did not. Who DID contribute to the issue and in fact is the sole reason I bought the issue ( and not this ridiculous new Venom guy ) is Stefano Caselli who draws the first three issues in this comic. And he´s not even mentioned on the cover. Now I don´t if that was a last minute thing, that they wanted to do a Venom special and decided at the last moment against it but that´s just poor form. They are totally dissing Stefano Caselli, man. Is there nobody who proof reads the stuff before they go to the printer or at least gives it a final look - over ? This really should not happen with such a company like PANINI. Or at least not so damn often.

Okay, that was my one major gripe with the issue, apart from that Dan Slott writes a terriffic story ( boy, does he have changes in quality or what ? ) and Stefano Caselli draws the heck out of it. I´m still miffed that he left SECRET WARRIORS to enter the doomed ship that is Spider - Man but he´s one heck of a talented artist.


Which brings us to the last spiderissue on my pile ( at least for now ) SPIDER - MAN 93 by Dan Slott and another great artist : Marcos Martin.


The two part story deals from the fallout of NET 34 and without spoiling too much Spider - Man decides that from now one nobody is going to die while he is around. Not a bad story but it brought us the gay - black latex - disco meets Lady Gaga - Spider - Man that is going to debut in the next issue so I´m going to skip that one. And because I already have the second issue that´s going to be in Spider - Man 94 which is a brilliant story by Dan Slott in which Pete reminescences about his pal Johnny Storm who passed away recently. If you are not intimidated by ugly sadomaso costumes you should get the issue because the second story alone is worth the price of admission.

Now we have spent a lot of time with the Marvel section of PANINI but I also want to mention the DC section of PANINI before wrapping things up ( it´s once again half past one after midnight ) which means BATMAN.


Yup, here in Germany PANINI publishes SIMPSONS, FUTURAMA, STAR WARS, BUFFY, BOMB QUEEN, CONAN, RED SONYA, MORNING GLORIES, SCOTT PILGRIM, SPONGEBOB, THE BOYS, DARK TOWER, THE STAND and MARVEL and DC. And they still say their sales numbers are not good. What the hell else do they want ? If you can´t make a profit with those franchises - forget it.

So, most of the DC series that did interest me ( after FLASHPOINT I have to remind myself to keep talking in the past tense ) I used to read in the original version so apart from the occasional MONSTEREDITION the only thing from DC that I did read in the german version was BATMAN. Or rather BATMAN & ROBIN now that Grant Morrison has ended his megasaga which ran through all battitles.

I have to say I didn´t read R.I.P. and I don´t know if I ever will since most of the people who read it didn´t understand it. But reading the batstories was more fun when all the issues were just pieces in Grant´s metapuzzle. I have read a few issues of the Batman book by Tony Daniel but there´s nothing there that really makes this a must buy. So I´m sticking to the issues that have parts of BATMAN & ROBIN which is much more entertaining. And although Frank Quitely left the book with issue three the latest issues by Patrick Gleason have been pretty solid. I rather liked his art on GREEN LANTERN CORPS and I hope they can keep him around a while and finally give the book a consistent look.


And that´s finally the last word on that matter and I hope this post wasn´t too boring. Next time we´ll get to a topic that´s more fun and who knows ? I might even get to do my top ten of Power Girl cosplay.


Since it might be a while before I get to do it I wanted to post this link which is the flicker photostream of lady_wolf_star my actual number 1. She really has the goods.


Before closing I have to give the update on the DOCTOR WHO WATCH. I know I have decided to start with the first Doctor but before going to the black and white version I have picked one last color episode to watch, namely THE FIVE DOCTORS. As the title implies in the episode all the five Doctors up to the Tom Baker one ( who probably was the current Doctor at that time ) meet up. Although they don´t interact as much as I hoped it´s interesting to see these different versions of the Doctor and his companions together. As Tom Baker doesn´t do much in the episode I´m guessing this was another brilliant filler while he was busy filming other episodes. I think I will rewatch it when I have finished David Hartnell´s stint as the Doctor before beginning with the next Doctor.

Since Today´s post is all about german comics the video is also a german video, in this case the first part of BROT IM ORIENT EXPRESS ( Bread on the Orient Express ). You may remember Bernd from the DINNER FOR ONE spoof I posted in an earlier post.



New to the blog ? Everything you need to know about TALES FROM THE KRYPTONIAN : top ten posts / more posts of interest


Good...then I´ll have spent Doctor Doom´s own money to destroy him.

I can´t believe it´s happening again

Somehow the month of February keeps creeping up on me. Last year January was over before I even realized it and this year it happened again. At least I managed to write three posts, last year I only managed to do one before February got me in his clutches.


For days I have wanted to write a new post but I´m just so busy, busy, busy with other stuff. I can´t even get around to read my new comics and I got marvelous stuff like Roger Langride´s SNARKED and Jim Woodring´s CONGRESS OF THE ANIMALS on my " to read " pile.

THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER WERE WALKING CLOSE AT HAND

I´m a big fan of Roger Langride ever since I saw his art on THE BIG BOOK OF URBAN LEGENDS but I have to admit, to my shame, I have neither read his MUPPETS nor his THOR comics although I have heard that they are marvelous. Anyway, when I got the FREE 0 issue of SNARKED by one of the online comicshops where I place my orders I just had to get it ( it´s smaller than the regularsized 0 issue which only costs one buck ). As somebody who read Lewis Caroll´s ALICE books and enjoyed them immensly I couldn´t let this opportunity pass to read a comic about some of the characters that appear in his books like the walrus and the carpenter ( the two lead characters ), the chesire cat, the gryphon and maybe even a snark.


As usual I missed the initial start but I was lucky enough to get the first 4 issues from the same online shop that sent me the 0 issue. If you want a comic that you can read together with your kids, this is it. Especially if you have already read the Alice books with them or watched the Disney adaptations.

interview with roger langride about snarked / snarked 0 preview

snarked 1 preview / snarked 2 preview

snarked 3 preview / snarked 4 preview

And since we´re on the subject of Alice, a few years ago I bought the english version and I got the SIGNET CLASSIC pocket edition which is not only pretty cheap ( 3.95 $ for Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass ) but also has the original illustrations by John Tenniel which are simply brilliant. I´m sure you can get a copy at amazon or at good bookstores.


One last thing about Lewis Carrol : he never answered the riddle why a raven is like a writing desk. People always come up with their own answers but in german it has always been pretty obvious. The raven has feathers which is Federn in german and a writing desk has pens which is Schreibfeder in german or in short Feder. What´s more a pen used to be called Federkiel because before metal pens could be manufactured people used feathers from birds, the quills. Which is still the same word for the feather of a bird and the feather you use for writing. So, if the writing desk in question is a rather old one it may contain real birdfeathers to write. Ergo : the common thing about the raven and the writing desk is they both contain feathers which can be used for writing.

alice in wonderland resource page

the walrus and the carpenter wiki / the poem / audio version

MY NAME IS MUD AND IT´S ALWAYS BEEN

Another series where I missed the beginning is MUDMAN by Paul Grist which is even less pardonable ( am I making up words again ? ) because I have mentioned the book once or twice on this blog and how much I was looking forward to reading it since JACK STAFF is on hiatus. And then I go and miss the first two issues. But there is hope. It seems I was not the only one who missed them so they are going back to press and the reprints of issue 1 and 2 hit stores the same day as issue 3 comes out.


Which you may have already read on ComicBits Online right here on the blogroll and which - of course - everybody reads religiously.

THE AVENGER HAS LOST ITS SHINE, THE MAGIC IS NOW DRAINED

Last month I spent a bit much on comics so this month I have decided to stay away from amazon - which lasted exactly five days until I found the third volume of AVENGERS ASSEMBLE by Kurt Busiek and George Perez for 23 bucks. Normally it sells for 35 dollars and most comicshops don´t have it anymore so I took the chance even if I don´t like ordering from other sellers as amazon. I already ordered two trades from the " used " section and I had to make the experience that what most people consider " in good shape " is what comicfans throw into the half price off bin. But this time it really arrived very fast and in good shape so another one for the collection. It has some fill - in artists, and a big part are issues of THUNDERBOLTS but this run is just gold. Now I only have to find the first two parts.

I´m already flipping through the pages every night before going to sleep and if I can´t find the first two volumes in hardcover I might not wait any longer. I´ll just whip out the single issues and read the whole run again. Which I already did twice. And there are still some things I forgot. Like that Triathlon didn´t join before this storyline and that his first mission was when the Avengers went up against Kulan Gath to help Silverclaw´s Mom who was a goddess. By the way, Silverclaw was one of my favorite new Avengers and Triathlon could even outbitch Hawkeye. Totally Airwolf, that run.


Speaking about George Perez, there is some good news about the new 52. DC doesn´t seem to know what to do with high calibre artists like Mr. Perez but he doesn´t have to toil on such titles like SUPERMAN anymore. After months of only doing the covers and the layouts it´s up to a full issue of SUPERGIRL before WORLDS´ FINEST starts. One of the second wave of new 52 books the series stars Huntress and Power Girl ( Yes ! ) and the art will be provided by Kevin Maguire and George Perez on alternating storyarcs.


So it looks like I will add a new DC title to the list while at least one old title will be eliminated. After the really brilliant JUSTICE LEAGUE - GENERATION LOST I couldn´t wait to read the new JLA spin - off title but the whole new 52 deal threw a monkey wrench into the whole thing.

After issue 5 it´s clear that while it may be possible that the group will find its own groove this is not the Generation lost team and never will be. Such interesting characters like Blue Beetle and Captain Atom are missing and quite frankly I´m not interested in waiting another year to see if it can achieve a fraction of its former brilliance.

For the time being RESURRECTION MAN is still on the pull list although I don´t know for how long. The whole restart of what was once an original concept as another one of those heaven / hell conflicst didn´t really improve the title as well as Fernando Dagnino inking himself. Somehow his art looked better with somebody else´s inks.

WHERE DO THE LITTLE ROBINS COME FROM ?

I don´t remember exactly where I found this but I found the ad that appeared in FANTASTIC FOUR 132 odd :


So, the Wayne School wants to help young students over 17 to finish High School at home ? Yeah, I bet. And there surely is a little extra special for those who have no family and good grades in sport and criminology. No obligation. Sure.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING BORROWED.....

Here are a few more cool things I found while surfing, most of them pretty self explainatory :







Of course every " Odds and ends " section isn´t complete without a few top 10 lists and here are three that were send to me. Yes, it seems that I have finally reached the point of semi - fame where people expect me to be influential.

Be that as it may true or not, I´m happy for anybody who sends me stuff and if you want to see something mentioned or published here just send it ( as long as it´s appropiate ). Today´s top ten list comes from newbie BUISNESS INSURANCE and although I don´t know anybody on this list I´m sure in these financially unsure times we can all appreciate 10 tv financial experts worth watching .

DOCTOR STRANGE, I SUPPOSE ?

I´m not sure how long this post is going to get ( as I´ll surely add a thing or two in the next days ) but I can´t finish without mentioning the newest happenings at the DOCTOR WHO front. After I have now run out of new episodes I decided to get back and this time waaay back to the very first Doctor played by William Hartnell.


Yep, the Doctor´s fetish with strange headgear starts early on.

But before that I watched the DOCTOR WHO tv movie from 1996 with Paul McGann as the eight Doctor and Eric Roberts as The Master. Or Dr. Strange like I like to call him for obvious reasons. Somebody on the set must have been a huge fan of Marvel Comics.


Now the movie was supposed to re - start the franchise as well as introduce it to an american audience but in hindsught it was probably best for all involved that it crashed and burned so completely. Otherwise we wouldn´t have gotten the brilliant restart in 2005.

And it´s not only that they obviously eliminated anything from the movie that might be too frightening for kids ( which has always been part of the appeal of Doctor Who ) or objective to parent groups, and also really bad acting from most people involved. The Doctor himself doesn´t do too much and for something that´s supposed to introduce a whole Who - niverse it doesn´t explain anything. Watching the movie I knew some of the important things, like who The Doctor is, part of the history of The Master, what planet Skaro is, the TARDIS and so on. And still I had some problems following the story because there were some things that were only in this movie and even they weren´t explained. On top of that they had to include a love story with the companion which isn´t how this normally works. Daphne Ashbrook isn´t exactly unattractive but of course she´s a Doctor too.


So it shouldn´t surprise anyone that it wasn´t the huge success everybody hoped it would be. For more about the movie just watch it ( it shouldn´t be too hard to find on the interwebs since a techno analphabet like me could find it ) and then listen to the DOCTORWHOCAST episode that analyses it much more in detail.


By the crimson bands of Galafrey, begone foul creature !

Since a big part of Today´s post was about Alica in Wonderland and the walrus and the carpenter here is the Disney version of the poem.



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It´s a whole big Who - niverse out there

It´s been over a week since my last post and even if I feel like I have been on the receiving end of one of the Hulk´s best haymakers it´s about time to finally do a new post. Even if it doesn´t have much comic content and just is about one of the things I´m doing in the meantime.


Some readers don´t realize this but one of the reasons why it´s so long between posts is that it can take quite some time until all the things are done on such a post. In fact I just put the finishing touches on my last post about movie cult sirens Janet Jones and Leslie Easterbrook THIS Monday adding some stuff about POLICE ACADEMY and DIRTY HARRY so I didn´t want to put up the next one too soon. I know some readers are not too thrilled with this kind of posts that have lots of hot babes but on the other side they seem to be the most popular.


They definitely are the ones that get the most spam.

The post got a bit derailed and I´m not sure what I initially wanted to write about. I had already written most of the post previously and thought I would just have to add some nooks and crannies but then it just went downhill from there and before I realized it was a whole week before I had finally managed to add all the bell and whistles. I hope all the stuff about wrestling on german tv wasn´t too boring but that´s just how it works on this blog. One idea pops into my head and - bang - I´m off on a rant and no idea how I´m going to get back on the original subject. Anyway, I hope I can be more linear on this post.


Yesterday I wanted to take things slower and stay away from the internet but then I spent more time before the computer than planned and it looks like I´m also going do a few things Today that were not planned.

Since I now have a job again ( Yay, the novelty still hasn´t worn off ) and I have to work on Saturdays and Mondays my weekend is pretty short. So my weekend is more between Wednesday and Saturday, which means right now.

I have been pretty emerged in DOCTOR WHO stuff since my mother has now more crime tv channels than ever and watches all those crime series 24 / 7. So I needed a break from that and have rewatched the 5th season of DOCTOR WHO ( yes, I know it´s not really the fifth season but the 31st but I´m going with the new numbering - we do the same with comics, don´t we ? ) to get to the last Christmas special.

And I have to say, it really IS a better Christmas special because it adapts one of the best Christmas stories and one of the most often copied - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - and it´s much more about Christmas than last year´s. Don´t get me wrong, it was a good special but it was more of a Winter special that just happens to take place on Christmas than really a Christmas special. The Doctor was not as involved in this one and the most interesting part is the beginning with the starship he seems to blow up. I´d like to see what´s up with that.


Of course you can´t just keep rewatching the old episodes of DOCTOR WHO so I finally watched all the episodes of DOCTOR WHO CONFIDENTIAL of season 6 now that I have seen all the episodes. Because you don´t want to be spoilered on an episode you haven´t seen. The most interesting episodes of the CONFIDENTIAL were of course the one with the Neil Gaiman episode and the last one now that the identity of River Song is finally revealed. Which was for me the initial reason to rewatch the 5th season because I didn´t watch the history of River Song in order.

My introduction to DOCTOR WHO proper was of course the first season with Christopher Eccleston that started the reboot of the whole series but here in Germany they just stopped after the second season which was the first one with David Tennant. I saw a few episodes of DOCTOR WHO in Spain ( and it is kind of weird hearing him in catalan ) but here we are still waiting for more episodes. Season 5 is shown on FOX but the general public is still waiting. That´s so typical of german tv, one of the best sci - fi series of the world and they are not showing it. I have to admit his voice sounds a bit strange in german since Matt Smith does so much with his voice but I think you can get used to it.



Anyway, one day while surfing the internet ( probably looking for pictures of Power Girl, massita ) I found some episodes of the David Tennant episodes and started with his last ones. Which is logical. Don´t start with the ones that come after the last one you have seen, start with the last one. The finale is great. Must be all those comic reading over the decades, I´m just not used to experience things in the right chronical order. When I started collecting comics you never got issues in the right order so you were used to start in the middle of a storyline, read the beginning later and find out the end years later.


Which is kind of my experience with River Song´s story. I saw the end of the David Tennant run ( no pun intended, Doctor Who fans know what I mean ) then season 5 with Matt Smith, then season 3 with David Tennant ( Matha Jones, BEST traveling companion ever ), then season 6 with Matt Smith again and then season 4 with David Tennant - and that all with some episodes of Tom Baker inbetween. So I saw the end / beginning of River Song as the last and the beginning / end first. Or, if that makes more sense ( although I´m not sure if it possibly can with such a complicated thing like River Song´s timeline in particular and all the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff in general ) I started with THE TIME OF ANGELS or THE FALL OF THE BYZANTIUM like River calls it, then went forwards until THE WEDDING OF RIVER SONG before finally making my way to SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY.

I´m not sure if that´s the best way to see it ( I´m sure it probably isn´t ) but what I can say is that SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY is a real tearjerker especially after you have seen the rest of River Song´s story. You know everything she´s been through with the Doctor and why she´s willing to make such a big sacrifice for him. It is a very good episode, even if you DO see it in the order it was meant to thanks to the brilliant writing of Brian Moffat, but having seen season 5 and 6 it just packs a bigger punch because you are kind of put in her place and see things from her perspective. Now if you´re new to DOCTOR WHO you might want to skip the next clip because like River says : spoilers. Although on the other side it just might get you interested.



So, Doctor Who, nothing short of brilliant. But of course old episodes of DOCTOR WHO and DOCTOR WHO CONFIDENTIAL can only last so far. Which is where DOCTORWHOCAST comes in. You may have noticed that there are two new links on the blogroll, one for the official DOCTOR WHO webside at BBC and the other one for the Doctor Who podcast DOCTORWHOCAST, which not only brings entertaining podcasts of Whosomeness but also TARDIS every other day, meaning Totally Awesome, Ridiculously Doctor - like Internet Stuff.


Which is where I got most of the pictures on this post from. The TARDIS stuff can be a cake that looks like the TARDIS, a woman who has a corset that looks like the TARDIS ( you have got to check that out ) or the handy Doctor / River Song chart that lists all the Doctors, who they were travelling with, who they fought against, which one faught against the Daleks most often, which one fought the Cybermen most often, who had the most seasons etc., etc. A really indispensable tool especially for writing this post.

So, now there is no new DOCTOR WHO for me to watch unless I find some old episodes on the net or the DOCTOR WHO movie is finished. There are rumors Tim Burton is going to direct it.



Or maybe they show the old DOCTOR WHO episodes on german tv. I have no idea why they don´t show them for the fans and call it DOCTOR WHO CLASSIC or something. They can´t be very expensive, maybe they could get the whole pack for a good price.

Anyway, there is still other stuff to watch and hopefully I can get to that now that my Mum is going back to Spain on Sunday and my brother is also going for 4 weeks. I still haven´t finished watching the second season of SLEDGE HAMMER, I´m still the only one who hasn´t watched all the episodes of THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES and I finally have found season 3 of SLIDERS on DVD, which is where Kari Wuhrer comes in.


Which sounds a bit pervy but really, Wade was starting to get on my nerves constantly getting involved when Quinn always told her not to get involved. Well, Kari is much more a woman who takes care of business, and does what she has to do to survive until the next slide. And she looks waaay better in a corsage.

I also haven´t had the chance to watch the last 5 DVDs I bought which was one of those 5 DVDs FOR 20 BUCKS deals. I got VARSITY BLUES, which has a great striptease scene and it is a decent flick but I never watched the whole movie. Then THE CANNONBALL RUN with Adrienne Barbeau ( who was in the best SWAMP THING movie so far and in FOG and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK ) and her famous zipper cleavage as well as HAPPY EASTER with Jean - Paul Belmondo and Sophie Marceau which I haven´t seen before. Last but not least I also picked DER GROSSE BLONDE MIT DEM SCHWARZEN SCHUH, a brilliant comedy with Pierre Richard in which Mireille Darc wears a stunning dress.


You might have seen the american remake with Tom Hanks as THE MAN WITH ONE RED SHOE, which is really awful. At least Lori Singer tries to live up to the original.


Mireille Darc in the original and the same scene with Lori Singer.


Another movie I got was INDECENT PROPOSAL with Demi Moore, Robert Redford and Woody Harrelson. Now, you might think I´d rather go for STRIPTEASE since she really shows everything her Mama gave her ( which is quite a lot ) in that one but she´s still very busty in INDECENT PROPOSAL.


So, all great movies to re - watch or watch for the first time.

I thought I could write a bit more about comic stuff but it seems this is all we have time for Today. Like I said in another post : if you don´t watch DOCTOR WHO please try it. Oh, and one last thing : can anyone explain to me why the female superiors ( or women in general ) are called " Mom " by the soldiers ? Is that a british thing or just a thing in DOCTOR WHO ?

The video in my last two posts have been kind of a theme so Today it´s time for another version of DINNER FOR ONE, this time by BERND DAS BROT ( Bernd, the loaf of bread ) a really hilarious german comedy show.



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I´m most definitely a mad man with a box.